Essential Vocabulary for Theology Students

The following is a list of 10 vocabulary words that are essential for students to know in a secondary religion class.  I will be using a vocabulary that would be discussed in a Catholic High School, seeing as that is where I plan on teaching.


1. Christianity - the religion of or pertaining to or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings; includes Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox churches

• In a high school religion class, it is likely that the students already know what Christianity is.  That being said, it is very important to know this definition when studying, not only Catholicism, but any religion.  Understanding what classifies a religion as Christian or non-Christian is also very important.

2. Ecclesiastical - of or pertaining to the church or clergy; churchly; not secular

• In a typical Catholic high school the student body will attend some sort of regular mass.  Most, if I were to guess, don't think too much about this liturgical service and what it means in relation to the religious implications.  As a religion teacher, I would incorporate a lot of what goes on during mass into my classes and lessons so that students can identify meaning and importance in certain rituals in the church.  

3. Liturgy - a form of public worship; a particular form or type of Eucharistic service;

• Going off of the last word, I believe it would be important for students to identify the meaning and purpose behind liturgical services, and the differences each religion and denomination have.  Being such a vital role to so many religions, especially the Catholic Church, I would want students to be fully aware of its significance.

4. Faith - confidence or trust in a certain thing; believe that is not based on proof; belief in God or the doctrines or teachings of a religion

• Faith is something that everyone has, whether it's in God, a friend, or that you won't get hit by a car crossing the street.  Faith is one of the most difficult concepts in religion to understand, and it's something that is continuously changing within each person.  It is also one of the most difficult things to trust.  So often we need to have faith in life, and especially in our society where we feel the need to know and control everything, that can be hard to come by.  Having students understand the idea and necessity of faith will be essential to help them grow in their faith.  

5. Spirituality - of or pertaining to spirit or soul as distinguished from physical nature

• Spirituality is one of the most misunderstood words in all of religion.  Many people think that a person can be spiritual and not religious, but in fact this is not the case.  It could be that a person is spiritual and does not associate himself or herself with a particular religion, but they are in fact religious.  In a society where yoga and other spiritual exercises are becoming more and more popular, I would want students to understand the practices and know how to truly define spirituality.  

6. Worship - reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage; formal and ceremonious rendering of such honor; adoring reverence or regard

• Another very important word in the religious vocabulary, worship is a form of expressing one's faith, spirituality, and beliefs.  Often coined with the other word, praise, worship is important to the study of religion because it is so prevalent in them.  The Bible calls for worship to God and Jesus Christ over and over again.  There are so many different types of worship one can practice, and I would want my students to be aware of what they are.

7. Prayer - a devout petition to God or an object of worship; a spiritual communion with God or an object of worship, as in adoration, thanksgiving, or confession.

• Being one of the most important aspects of any religion, prayer is something I would cover in length during class.  Prayer is often considered to be a conversation with God, and that is something that I would want my students to understand and take seriously.  I would take the time to explain all the different types of prayer, as well as how prayer strengthen faith.  

8. Clergy - the group or body of ordained persons in a religion as distinguished from the laity

• Also going along with the theme of ecclesiastical and liturgical, I feel it is important to associate and familiarize students with the different kinds of clergy members there are in the church.  I think it would be important for them to know the roles of the different clergy members, as well as the impact they have on the church.  Seeing as in most Catholic high schools there are some sort of clergy teaching, I think this would be an essential vocabulary word to cover.

9. Sacrament - a celebration of the Christian community through prayer, symbol and ritual that identifies an essential action for the Church to be the full Church of Jesus Christ

• Seeing the definition of this word pretty much describes why I would teach about sacraments, and why they are so essential to the church.  The Catholic Church recognizes seven sacraments, so I would take time to analyze all of these, and see why they are considered to be celebrations of the Christian community.  

10. Creed - a word that means belief; a creed summarizes in short ways what our key beliefs are.

• The reason I find this word essential is also fairly evident from seeing the definition.  Knowing what a creed is, and why it is important to profess the beliefs of a certain religion is very important in studying the different religions.  By studying creed, different religions can be more easily distinguished, and understood.  

ONLINE RESOURCE FOR MEETING THE NEEDS OF A DIVERSE CLASSROOM

Using Flexible Technology to Meet the Needs of Diverse Learners: What Teachers Can Do

This article, written by Lisa Wahl and Julie Duffield, explains different ways teachers can use technology in a multitude of ways in order to meet the needs of all their students.

Write-to-Learn Lesson Reflection

After completing my mini-lesson on the Write-To-Learn activity called the Write Around, I feel very confident in my ability to use WTLs in my classroom.  I spent plenty of time preparing, and creating a handout for the class to read, take notes on, and bring home with them as an artifact.  I think allowing us to choose out own activity made it easy for me to pick something I wanted to learn more about and learn how to use in my future classroom.  The Write Around is certainly an activity I will be using across any grade I teach.  I think the demonstration aspect of my lesson went very well.  When we went around and I actually gave my classmates time to write and see what that activity is like, I think I did a good job of answering any questions they had.  I feel like my classmates came away with enough knowledge to go out and use this in their classrooms/future classrooms, or now have enough interest to explore more about the activity. If I were to give this lesson again there are several things I would do differently.  The first thing I would do, is describe how the teacher may begin to scaffold using this strategy.  I also wish I would have chosen a different way to demonstrate on my own first, and then turn it over to my classmates.  There was confusion as to what they were supposed to be doing when I told them to begin.  I really enjoyed all my classmates' demonstrations, and there are many fun activities I am willing to go out and try.

Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest

The Reader Response Journal this week is in response to the sixth chapter in Content-Area Reading, titled: "Activating Prior Knowledge and Interest."  This is perhaps one of the most important chapters, in my opinion, in the entire textbook.  Making sure students are able to implement previously learned information is vital for students to learn new information.  In addition, sparking the interest of students is also essential to the learning process.

One of the concepts discussed in the chapter is self-efficacy.  "Self-efficacy refers to an 'I can' belief in self that leads to a sense of competence" (Vacca, Vacca, Martinez 169).  The idea is that students focus on their own estimations of their ability to apply whatever skills they bring to a specific content area. (The chapter focuses on literacy learning, but for the sake of this journal, I will broaden the scope.)  In my mind, I see all of those times in high school when either I was at a low level of self-efficacy, or I witnessed someone else with a low level of self-efficacy.  For example, when it came to mathematics I had very little confidence in the abilities I brought to that area of learning.  I knew it was something that was difficult for me to grasp conceptually, and I therefore was not motivated to learn new things.

When it comes to teaching students literacy, the level of self-efficacy is the "make-or-break" moment in learning.  If a student isn't confident in his or her own ability to read and understand key concepts, it is likely they will shut down and lose all motivation.  It's not necessarily that they don't care, they either find the reading and content irrelevant, too difficult, or in some cases they actually can't understand it.  "Students' motivation for reading and learning with texts increases when they perceive that text is relevant to their own lives and when they believe that they are capable of generating credible responses to their reading of the text" (171).  This reminds me of a post I made several weeks ago regarding trade books.  Trade books are a great way of mixing up the texts that students read in order to keep them interested and to make sure some texts are actually reaching them at a deeper level.

What can this look like in the classroom, and how can a teacher go about motivating students to learn literacy?  The textbook talks about arousing curiosity to help raise important questions that can only be answered by reading the material and giving thought to what they have read.  Another potential idea would be to give students a perspective of the reading they should be looking for beforehand, so that they read the material with the purpose of looking for something particular, and not just skimming the text.  In my classroom, I hope to hold discussions before, during, and after the completion of the reading, to keep students engaged, responsible, and interested in what they are reading.